Emirates Lions head coach Ivan van Rooyen lauded his side’s improved effort against the Vodacom Bulls this past weekend. After a challenging first leg encounter at Emirates Airline Park the week before, a noticeable attitude shift and intent in performance resulted which saw the Emirates Lions take an early lead at a wet Loftus. The visitors went down 21-13.

Coach Ivan van Rooyen:

“We were pretty happy with the shift in attitude leading up the Loftus trip. We had an intense week and it showed in our performance. The result didn’t go our way, but I feel we are close to where we want to be as we head into DHL Stormers this weekend.”

The Round 9 clash saw the men from Johannesburg sport a new-look backline which saw a revised centre pairing as well in the number ten channel.

“It’s always great to see a few new guys put up their hands in tough conditions and we felt they stood up quite well against a quality opposition,” concluded Van Rooyen.

The Emirates Lions next face the DHL Stormers on 12 February at Emirates Airline Park.

Vodacom Bulls (14) 21

Tries: Marcell Coetzee, Johan Grobbelaar, Kurt-Lee Arendse

Conversions: Morne Steyn (3)

Emirates Lions (6) 13

Try: Ruben Schoeman